Commerce Dept. lowers Chinese prelim duties

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration has lowered the preliminary antidumping duties issued earlier this year against all but one of 68 manufacturers, importers and distributors of car and light truck tires from China.

In the document issued by Commerce March 19, the preliminary antidumping duty levied against Giti Tire Global Trading Pte. Ltd.

and its subsidiaries remained at 19.17 percent, the same level the agency set in its original preliminary determination Jan. 21.

However, the duty against Sailun Group Co. Ltd. and its subsidiaries was slashed to 18.58 percent from the original 36.26 percent.

All 66 other companiesincluding such names as Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Bridgestone Corp., Goodyear Dailan Tire Co. Ltd. and Pirelli Tyre Co. Ltd.saw their antidumping duties reduced to 18.99 percent from 27.72 percent. All of these duties are in addition to the existing 4-percent import tariff on tires.

The Commerce order was issued to correct significant ministerial errors, its summary said. A significant ministerial error is when inadvertent errors in arithmetic cause substantial miscalculations of the duties that are owed.

Commerce said it found no significant errors in the antidumping margin calculations it made for Giti, but it did find errors in its calculations for Sailun. Amending Sailun's preliminary duties led Commerce to do the same for the separate rate companiesall the others.

The reduced rates for Sailun are retroactive to Jan. 27, the day the original antidumping duty determination was published in the Federal Register, Commerce said. For the separate rate companies, the lower duties are retroactive to Oct. 29, 201490 days before the publication of the original order.

When the original duty determination was issued, Cooper said Commerce would give the company an offset of 6.97 percent from its assessed duty of 27.72 percent, lowering its rate to 20.75 percent. Cooper confirmed to Tire Business that the offset would still apply to the lowered rate, reducing its antidumping duty rate to 12.02 percent.

Commerce's final determination on countervailing duties is due on or about April 6, and its final determination on antidumping duties on or about June 12.

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